Use this Simple Plug and Play Sitemap for Cutline!

Recently, I addressed both XML and XHTML sitemaps. In the case of the XHTML sitemap, I even released a special WordPress theme Page that can be incorporated into any existing site without additional modification.

The only bummer, though, is the fact that the resulting sitemap page won’t assume the styling of your current WordPress theme. This is something that really has to be addressed on a per-theme basis, so there is simply nothing I can do to accommodate everyone (at least not beyond what I’ve already done).

But you know what? I’m not worried about everyone.

I’m worried about you, my savvy and excellent community of Cutline users.

So in order to show my appreciation, I’ve formatted my XHTML Sitemap specifically for you guys.

Note — all future downloads of the theme will come equipped with the sitemap.php file. So, if you download the entire theme now, you won’t have to deal with my special add-on here, ’cause you’ll already have the goods!

Update — The sitemap file linked above is only suitable for Cutline 1.03 or older, and it is not intended for use with Cutline 1.1 or WordPress 2.1. If you have Cutline 1.1 or higher, you already have the correct sitemap file, so no worries!

Chris, quick question I am taking the Cutline theme and adjusting it to my liking. One thing I cant figure out for the life of me is where the CSS is to change the left and right sides to be a color other than white or use a pattern file.

“Here is a wierd problem that seems no one else has had. If you go to my sitemaps page http://www.cellounge.com/sitemap/ the only internal blog post listed is the sitemap page itself. Now I am not crazy there are over 600 posts. I looked at the code it should list the last 1000 posts right? Do you have any ideas on this one? ”

No more worries for me mate! I deactivated all the non essential plugins and it started to work. Still don’t know which plugin it was that was killing the sitemap, but really who cares right? As long as it works!

Hiya,
Love the theme and thanks for providing such good support.
I was wondering if you could provide a breif run down on how to change the background colors- is it simply a case of changing the colors in the style sheet ? I have done this before on other themes but I noticed someone else saying that this would not work with yours ?

After upgrading to WP 2.1, I’ve run intro a side bar issue. The blogroll is pushed off to the right. Doesn’t matter if I use widgets or use the default sidebar. I reloaded a fresh default cutline theme, and got the same result. The error does not carry through to other themes. I removed all plugins, widgets, etc., but it doesn’t make any difference. Any idea? Screenshot of the error here:http://www.alaskacooks.com/wp-content/Site_pics/screenshot.JG

I’m playing with Cutline for a site that will be up soon. I tried the Sitemap with the link at the top like you’ve done, but then wondered why I needed both Archives and Sitemap pages. Why not just have a Sitemap, with the Categories or Pages at the top to make them easier to find, and get rid of the Archives page?

The sidebar issue I wrote about above is caused by category limitations, either in Cutline or due to the widget sidebar requirements. My “friends & links” category, the default for links added to the blogroll, is category 61. Using any category past 9 results in the funky blogroll formatting. Renaming another category (lower than 9) and using that as my category for Friends & links seems to offer a workaround, although anyone affected will have to remember to edit their default categories every time a new link is added to the blogroll. Anyone found a better solution?

Is there a way of keeping the title of the blog but not displaying it ? I have put the title of my blog in the header image but still need a title for when it shows up in search engines or in bloglines , does that make sense ?

Also (and if my last question did not make me look daft this one will) – Why does the feed address simply end in /feeed and not RSS2 like a lot of other feeds ?

Alex G. — The font sizes were off because a tag was not closed properly within one of your posts.

Diwaker — You have manual control over the pages that display in the top navigation. The reason why I felt it was necessary to do this instead of automate it was because some folks have tons of pages, and it would essentially ruin the header structure if I included every page.

Also, off the top of my head, I know that Cutline seamlessly supports FlickrRSS, Subscribe to Comments, WordPress Widgets, and AdSense Deluxe. Plenty of others work as well, but those are probably the most notable.

Matt O. — You can control which pages display in the navigation bar. Frankly, it really doesn’t make a lot of sense to include archives and sitemap links in the same spot. To combat this, a lot of folks like to place the sitemap link in the footer.

Jared, Alex G., and others — I will release an upgrade this week that will fix the blogroll issue with WordPress 2.1. Cutline 1.03 came with legacy support, and because I didn’t know what class name the WP team was going to use for the blogrolls, I couldn’t make the code forward-compatible.

Sridhar — Yeah, that stinks. I can’t tell you how many times people blow the attribution link without giving two shakes about it. Of course, you’d like to see the entire community respect the work that you’ve done and provide proper credit, but the realist in me says that this isn’t always going to be the case.

Alistair — You need to check out CSS image replacement techniques. Basically, all you have to do is specify a width, height, and background image on something like an <h1> element, and then also be sure to add this property: text-indent: -9999px. This will keep the actual text within the XHTML, but it will not display that text to users.

Also, regarding the feed, that URI address is just fine because the default WordPress feed is, in fact, the RSS 2.0 feed.

You might find it on a forum thread, but I think it’s far more likely that you’d find it through a simple Google search. Try “CSS Image Replacement Techniques,” and look for articles published in 2006.

Just wanted to leave a note, after discovering something through experience — that, if you have pages you wish to NOT be displayed within the Sitemap page, then replace the following line in your Sitemap.php file from:

to:

(The numbers being the Page ID’s for the pages you wish to exclude — which you can locate via your Manage > Pages panel.)

This is useful if you have a shopping cart or other plugin that requires additional pages for the application – but you don’t wish to be displayed unless they’re used.

I’m noticing suddenly that the W3C validator will not recognize the alt attribute for XHTML 1-transitional on the Sitemap page. Was there a specific reason that you chose to use the alt tag instead of title in these instances?

When I decided to launch my Blog, I spent hours and hours looking for the right theme. And when I found CutLine, I discovered a clean and balanced design, but it was just the top of the iceberg, because I see that you are a total professional providing tech support for all the users of your theme, and that’s really awesome! Your tips and answers help dramatically to everybody. And Just seeing your Blog with so many posts and commentaries is more than enough to see that you have an authority site.

I am running cutline theme really smooth, I had some minor problems, but just reading your blog I fixed all of them.

My final words in this commentary are like most people say: Thanks Chris ! you are a good friend to all of Us.